


Taurens problem

by Panatlantic



Series: 99 problems [14]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alpha Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Omega Merlin (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panatlantic/pseuds/Panatlantic
Summary: spoiler: its merlin
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: 99 problems [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948336
Comments: 14
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

“I don’t want to.” Arthur sulked. Twice. Twice now he had woken up with Gaius hovering over his bed and questionable marks on his person. Trust could only extend so far before it got bitch slapped back into reality.

“Don’t be such a baby Arthur.” Uther advised. “Gaius is the court physician. Now let him have a look.”

“Indeed. Those bites are obviously infected.” Gaius added hopefully (he was after all the aforementioned court physician and court physicians that didn’t produce results tended to end up getting burnt as witches). Arthur had been limping for the past week and now refused to even sit down at meals.

“Aha!” Accused Arthur. “I never said anything about bites! How could you possibly know that?”

“Perhaps if I got Merlin to apply some salve to them?” Suggested Gaius slyly. It was Merlin’s fault anyway (Gaius had seen the marks when Merlin had dragged Arthur into his chambers after the whole Anhora thing, and he would recognise Merlin’s marks anywhere, he’d certainly seen them in enough places, including several corpses, George, the castle furniture and that one practice dummy in the training grounds that Merlin just always found personally offensive and couldn’t walk past without attacking).

Meanwhile Merlin was otherwise engaged. The whole famine thing had driven his basic omega hording tendencies into overdrive and he’d been trying to smuggle out a side of beef under his tunic – it had been going well until a gaggle of knights had arrived and started cheering him on (swearing it was the sexiest thing they’d seen since the harvest festival when Merlin had attempted to swipe an entire roast boar in a similar fashion from the Rising Sun (which would have been far more successful if a. he’d hadn’t been naked at the times, and b. the pig hadn’t been scalding hot at the time)). Now cook was growling at him from the alcove (Evoric had been much more obliging), and she had a broom. Merlin scowled and backed away. Did everyone know about brooms now? (note: all the brooms in Camelot mysteriously disappearing a day later would be blamed on witchcraft (and perhaps more unusually, actually be true), from that day witches would become synonymous with brooms).

“…Merlin?” Asked Merlin innocently, sidling up to Arthur.

“TREASON?!” Screamed Morgana throwing herself into the dining room dramatically, pausing only to shank one of the guards (he'd looked at her funny... probably because he'd been hit by the door when she'd thrown it open, but one couldn't be too careful).

Uther sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, Morgana, treason. The blacksmith was consorting with a known enemy.”

“ENEMY?!?!” Morgana demanded. Gwen was her personal servant and Morgana could hardly have her blubbering around the castle, diluting poisons and getting blankets soggy. This was simple intolerable.

“We have reason to believe he was forging weapons for Tauren. The leader of a band of renegade sorcerers sworn to bring down the King.” Explained Arthur. At Morganas piercing gaze, he added, “Er… Tauren escaped. A bit.”

“Arthur saw him with his own eyes!” Added Uther defensively.

“…pigeon?” Interrupted Merlin. He only knew one blacksmith so it had to be the same one by law of averages (and casting budgets).

“Tom!” Confirmed Morgana.

Merlin gasped, and turned his own accusing glare on Uther.

“Every man has a price!” Uther claimed desperately.

“Found this on the blacksmith,” Arthur added, sliding the lump of gold across the table.

“I have proof!!” Uther growled.

“…pigeon?” Asked Merlin miserably, clutching at Arthur again.

Naturally, despite proof and being an actual eyewitness, Arthur folded. “Errr… Father, the blacksmith committed a crime, but we don't know for certain he meant treason….” He winced (because his (possibly) infected posterior had a distressed omega kneading it (excruciatingly painful… but in a kinda sexy way)).

“No. You're right. Nothing's certain. Save one thing. The law stands or this kingdom falls! He'll get a fair trial, and he'll be found guilty, 'cause that's what he is.” Uther declared sniffily. He was definitely being made the bad guy again… why was everyone always picking on him? You burn a few peoples loved ones and the whole nation turns on you…

“Gwen!” Snapped Morgana, storming out. To add emphasis she dragged Merlin with her. Morgana had figured out quite early in life one of the best ways to upset Uther was to take his playthings away (granted this usually involved slipping a little something toxic into his current concubines wine, but Merlin, through a combination of boredom and curiosity, had experimented with putting everything he could find in his mouth, and developed his own formidable poison resistance, so dragging it was).

“Ummmm. Maybe…. we should investigate further?” Suggested Arthur sheepishly.

“Tauren slept somewhere, he fed somewhere. Find anyone who helped him in any way. They must be punished. The people must see the laws of Camelot are not to be trifled with.” Suggested Uther poutily.

“Yes, Father.”

* * *

“He said Tauren came to him at the forge, offered to pay him a fortune for his help, not to make weapons, for an experiment or something.” Gwen explained to Gaius and Merlin. Morgana was busy entertaining herself with a whip and an alpha prisoner who was couldn’t believe his own good fortune. “Some kind of stone.”

After Gwen had excused herself, Gaius mused, “When Tom was arrested, they found gold on him.” Or perhaps he was just talking just aloud to himself, it was always hard to tell how much attention Merlin was paying, especially since Morgana had come back with an entire arm load of different types of whips. Not to be out done Merlin was attempting to fashion his own whip (rather unsuccessfully) from what might be Arthur’s nightshirt. “And from what Gwen was saying, Tauren's experiment bears all the hallmarks of alchemy.”

Merlin glanced at Gaius with a slightly-more-confused-than-normal look.

“To change the very nature of one thing to another has defeated all who have tried. But if you used magic...” Gaius continued.

Merlin frowned. He had been woken the previous night by a surge of magic. So that’s what it had been…. and to think he’d blamed Arthur and booted him out of the bed… Merlin vowed to make it up to him later, and he knew exactly what Arthur liked.

* * *

“Gwen? Gwen?” Called Morgana, circling the forge. Morgana’s shanking knife had hit a rib and needed a good sharpening. “Gwen?”

Morgana spotted a leather bag on the floor of the forge. She picked it up and tipped out the contents onto the floor (omegas had a very fluid interpretation of privacy, and a very concrete interpretation for ownership (want?=mine!)). Glow rock. It was pretty so she took it home, and not being stupid (betas had a very concrete understanding of ownership too, and would take things back if they noticed) hid it in a box).

As Morgana had touched the stone, the magic had surged again. Across town, Merlin promptly elbowed Arthur in the ribs and scowled. “I most certainly did not!” Denied Arthur with indignance. Merlin gave a disbelieving sniff and it was true. Arthur hadn’t farted… but then… the only explanation was powerful magic.

How ominous! Merlin rolled over and went back to sleep.

* * *

“Merlin.” Said Morgana.

“Morgana.” Said Merlin.

They both looked at Gwen, who was still sleeping.

“Rest.” Said Morgana.

Merlin nodded. There was a certain amount of truce between the two omegas regarding Gwen, who, being a seamstress, was considerably prized when it came to blanket repairs.

“Uther.” Spat Merlin.

“Uther.” Spat Morgana. Bullying Uther might be another area of common interest.

* * *

Morgana, not really all that aware of her magic yet, used her omega wiles to save Tom. By this we mean she walked into Arthurs chambers and nicked his keys.

She then slipped the keys to Tom so he could coordinate his own escape (plans and such were a beta thing after all). Gwen would be so pleased when Tom turned up after walking past all those armed guards to freedom! So grateful... and coincidently, Morganas 47th blanket DID need a new hem...

Unfortunately, Morgana had greatly overestimated Toms abilities (possibly she had not taken into account the fact that Tom was not a trained knight, but a middle-aged beta with no practical stealth training or fighting skills whatsoever).

* * *

“Nooooooo...!” Cried Gwen as her father’s body was carried off on a cart by a pair of guards.

Morgana decided the time to mention the keys to Gwen was never.

* * *

  
“Blood!!” Wailed Morgana, pointing an accusing finger at Uther.

“May I remind you that you're speaking to your King.” Muttered Uther darkly. He’d already had Merlin down here last night making similar accusations (technically twice since he’d been distracted by a bowl of fruit halfway through the first rant and come back again later to finish up).

Morgana spat on the floor to show her contempt.

“You know nothing of what it means to be King! The fate of Camelot rests in my hands! It's my responsibility to protect the people of this land from its enemies!” ranted Uther.

“Doomed!!” she screeched in reply. “Mad!”

“You speak treason, Morgana!” accused Uther. “Take care, omega, or I'll have you restrained!” he threatened, to the horror of the standing guard.

The castle guard was almost exclusively beta. This had happened not through design, but by selective elimination. Alphas and omegas rarely attacked betas, alphas because betas avoided challenging, and omegas because there were so few of them - betas simply went out of their way not to be in their line of sight. With this strategy very few betas died at Morganas hand (except for the odd incidental poisoning). Like most predators, omegas had poor peripheral vision.

So when Uther threatened to have Lady Morgana restrained, the guards decided the best thing to do would be to not be present to hear the order in the case he decided to follow through. Restraining Lady Morgana was a death sentence on two fronts as the alphas in the hall had already started bristling, watching them to see if they would harm the omega, and the Lady’s hand had shot down to rest on her dagger. There was the additional threat of being burnt at the stake as a witch for not following Uther’s command.

* * *

“And you will remain here until you learn your lesson.” Uther huffed. In the end he’d had to drag Morgana down here himself - which had proved easier than dragging Merlin to his chambers that one time (such a demure omega... in the end he'd only escaped by gnawing a hole in the sack), but still challenging . For some reason there’d only been one guard in the hall (who had been slow to get away due to an inexplicable wound in his lower back) that had passed out when Uther ordered him to throw Morgana in the dungeon. Uther would have had him flogged (except all beta tended to look the same to him so it was unlikely he’d be able to pick which one it was).

“Tyrant!” Accused Morgana. This was inhumane! The prison cell only had one blanket, and she was moderately sure that that was human excrement on it and not a delightfully organic pattern. “Monster!”

* * *

“…Gwen?” asked Merlin sadly. Probably because he was sad for Gwen’s loss and not sad to find Gwen here. With Morgana locked up he had decided the time had come to redistribute Morganas blanket horde to the castle’s omegas (namely himself). He couldn’t very well do that with a witness.

“I just don't understand. Why did he try to escape? His trial was this morning!” Gwen cried.

Merlin didn’t get a chance to hazard a guess (his theory that Tom was secretly sneaking out to forge Merlin a new leech frying pan (a bigger one that could do the whole leech tank at once) was largely based on Merlins imagination and not at all on evidence anyway) as there was an insistent knocking on the door.

“Sire.” Said Gwen, opening it.

“Guinevere, I...want you to know that your job is safe. And that your home is yours for life. I guarantee you that. I know that under the circumstances it's a lot to ask… but could you please take this to Morgana?” Arthur shoved a soft woollen blanket at Gwen. “She won’t see anyone else and… for god sakes make the wailing stop.” Morgana had been very vocal in her displeasure of being imprisoned and the alpha knights of the castle were all on edge. Even the betas all had their eyes cast down and were filling bottles with drinking water and stocking up on poison antidotes (as presumably nothing but poisoning all the drinking water in Camelot would make up for this indignity).

Merlin darted out and snatched the blanket with an accusing look. Arthur shouldn’t have any blankets. He didn’t need any blankets. Especially not blankets for another omega. Merlin scowled.

“It’s one of Georges.” Explained Arthur.

Merlin blinked and shoved the blanket back to Gwen. He had no use for _beta blankets_. Unlike Morgana, Merlin was an _adult ._

“Of course.” Granted Gwen, folding the blanket.

“And Gwen… I'm sorry.” Added Arthur.

“Thank you, Sire.”

* * *

  
“I want the stone! Where is it?” Whispered the alpha that had grabbed her. The stupid git had his hand over her mouth, which made it terribly difficult to answer. After a full minute of no reply he seemed to get the point and lifted his hand.

“I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything about...” He clamped his hand down again.

“Now you listen to me. In two days' time, I'll be at the Darkling Woods at dawn. You find the stone, you bring it to me, or you will die. Now, do I make myself clear?” He growled.

* * *

“Merlin, come and take a look,” called Gaius when Merlin arrived back at the physician’s chamber. “I've been doing some research and found this.”

Merlin humoured him and took a look. The Mage Stone?

“Wonder of the ancients. Lost for a thousand years or more. Theoretically, it could give the bearer the power of transformation. The power of alchemy.” Gaius imparted.

“…gold?” Suggested Merlin, proving he had been listening earlier.

“Exactly. I believe it was the Mage Stone you sensed on the night of Tom's arrest.”

* * *

  
“Morgana! Stop biting me! I said you're free to go!” Explained Arthur (again) as Morgana spat, cursed and clawed at him. After the eighth near fatal training accident, and having refused the 17th castle guard resignation, he’d decided the best thing for everyone would be to beg his father to release Morgana. Apparently Uther had also had enough of her caterwauling because he had consented quickly enough.

When she finally got the point, she put aside the chamber pot she’d been trying to bludgeon him with, picked up her new blanket (a lower quality blanket, maybe 53rd best, but Merlin argued strongly in favour of quantity and she couldn’t allow him even this much leverage) and walked with a stately grace out of the cell.

“Morgana...” She glanced at him contemptuously. “I swore to him you'd never challenge his authority again. I swore that you'd learned your lesson. Tread carefully. Next time, I may not be able to help you.”

A bold alpha to assume she was willing to learn any lesson an alpha had to teach.

* * *

The second Morgana entered her chambers she knew Merlin had been there (apart form the lingering scent, its the sort of thing she would have done), so she went to check her blankets. 

“My Lady!” Greeted Gwen.

Morgana, check complete, nodded. There were several traps set on the blanket pile and none of them had been triggered, so presumably Merlin had been interrupted before he could get his hands on them. Speaking of stinking…

“Bath!” She demanded.

“The king, he doesn't like to be challenged.” Gwen murmured sympathetically as Morgana scowled. She had been able to piece together bits of the story from Arthur and Merlin but since all the beta servants had made themselves scare during the incident, had not gotten the full tale (Merlin being mostly unintelligible and Arthur mostly only paying attention to what Merlin was eating at the time). “It wasn't about my father, was it?”

Morgana gave a deep sigh and pet Gwen’s back.

“You shouldn't have done that! Not on my behalf!” exclaimed Gwen. “If anything happened to you, I couldn't bear it…” Betas, while they talked a big game behind closed doors, bonded with omegas on a different level. Omegas thrived on prosperity, so having one in a kingdom meant the alpha inhabitants would strive for peace and stability (rather than run around invading other kingdoms looking for omegas) – hence betas had evolved an innate fondness for them, and would certainly never wish them harm (just more akin to the fondness one has for a naughty but cute family pet).

“Rest.” suggested Morgana kindly. Clearly Gwen’s presence had saved her blankets from that thieving cat Merlin so deserved a break. 

“I'm fine, My Lady.” Gwen stated, eyes red and puffy from crying. She grabbed a hairbrush and walked toward Morgana.

“Rest!” insisted Morgana again.

“I can't go home!” Cried Gwen. “Tauren...”

“Tauren?!” prompted Morgana.

“He attacked me. He threatened me. He was looking for some kind of stone.”

“Stone?” Morgana asked perplexed.

“He said if I didn't bring it to him, he'd kill me. He's waiting for me in the Darkling Woods. I have to do something. If I don't get this stone to him by dawn tomorrow...” Gwen cut herself off when Morgana stood. “What are you going to do?”

“Guards.” Morgana sniffed. It was the least they could do (if they wanted to survive till nightfall anyway).


	2. Chapter 2

“Omega…” Growled Tauren stalking Morgana in the woods.

“Stone.” Said Morgana, tossing the mage stone at Tauren’s feet with disinterest.

“What else have you brought, My Lady? The Knights of Camelot?” Accused Tauren.

Morgana gave him her best glare. Well her third best glare anyway, her best ones were saved for Uther and blanket thieves (yes that means you Merlin).

“You were foolish to come here. I had no quarrel with your maid. But you, My Lady Morgana, you are Uther's ward.”

“Uther.” Morgana grunted with disgust.

“You? An enemy of the King?” Tauren growled. Not that he would dare doubt the word of an omega, just it wasn’t always easy to comprehend the actual words part.

Morgana spat on the ground for emphasis. Good enough.

“I can only guess at your motives, My Lady. You could be a spy, for all I know.” Unlikely but not impossible. Omegas didn’t really make good spies, mostly because their attention span was on par with a goldfish, but also because they were notoriously easy to bribe (and proud of it).

Morgana pulled back her sleeves to reveal her sore, bruised wrists and whimpered. Tauren growled. To hurt any omega, let alone his own ward… Uther was clearly insane! “With this stone a man can alter the very essence of things. He can turn a lump of lead into gold.” Tauren explained.

“Dead.” Morgana pointed out disapprovingly.

“I'm sorry for the beta. Truly. But we did not want the gold to line our pockets. The gold was but a means, a means to rid this kingdom of Uther Pendragon once and for all. I will use the corruption at the heart of his kingdom, and such abundance of gold will buy me into the King's chambers, even to the King himself.”

Morgana scoffed. What a very beta way to look at it… why bother with gold at all? In Morganas experience all you had to do was threaten to eviscerate someone and they pretty much did whatever you wanted… sometimes you didn’t even have to demonstrate on one of their colleagues first.

“Do you have a better plan?” Demanded Tauren.

Never one to pass up a chance to hurt Uther’s alpha pride (and perhaps more importantly his corporeal form) Morgana smirked.

* * *

Gaius was worried. Merlin was just staring at his dinner and not eating it. He gave the potage a cautious sniff, but could detect no traces of poison… 

“You all right?” Gaius prodded.

Merlin glanced up with a slightly rattled look.

“Anything you'd like to talk to me about?” prompted Gaius when Merlin sighed deeply and looked away. “So long as you're sure...” Finally Merlin abandoned the meal and stood with a determined look on his face and headed to the door. “Er, Merlin? Merlin… that's a broom cupboard.”

Merlin glared. He knew what he was about.

* * *

“Well, young warlock, what is it you come to ask of me?” Kilgarrah intoned wisely.

“…burn!” Merlin insisted, throwing another broom on the rather substantial pile. It stood to reason an enemy so powerful should be bought down by dragon fire. “…buuuuurn!”

“Of course I will! But this time, will you heed my words?”

Merlin glowered because there was still a pile of brooms and no ashes. Patience wasn’t his strong point. Actually… wasn’t there something else he was meant to be doing…? Oh yeah… Morgana was going to kill Uther… but was that really a problem? Really really?

“Do nothing…” Suggested Kilgarrah slyly in response to Merlin’s query. “Don't you want Uther dead? It is Uther that persecutes you and your kind, Merlin. It is Uther that murders babies... Uther that burns blankets… Uther that eats the last drumstick…”

Merlin nodded. Babies. Blankets. Chicken. These were all things that resonated with Merlin. How Kilgarrah knew about the chicken was any bodies guess – but then again, betas did love their gossip.

“Only if Uther dies can magic return to the land. Only if Uther dies will you be free, Merlin. Uther's reign is at an end. Let Arthur's reign begin. Fulfil your destiny!”

Merlin groaned. Doing nothing sounded like an awful lot of work…

“Free this land from tyranny, Merlin! Free us all!” Whined Kilgarrah, flying away on his ridiculously long chain.

Merlin also whined. Kilgarrah had failed to set those-that-shall-not-be-named on fire.

* * *

Uther was having dinner and Merlin-baiting (and people claimed alphas couldn’t multitask!) in the council chambers when Morgana slithered in.  
  
“I didn't expect to see you!” he snarked. “You wish to say something?”

Morgana scowled.

“Good. Apology accepted.” Uther declared pragmatically.

Morgana stiffened. “Gwen.”

“It was not my intention to hurt your maid.” Uther admitted, arranging roasted meat inside a snare.

“Suffer… Father…” Morgana accused. She had formed a strong parental bond with her (pretend) father Gorlois (alas not her mother - omega Vivienne had had a rather strong interest (obsession) in albino animals. Following a white stag into the woods one day she was never heard from again (being both omega and a powerful sorceress she was quite able to survive until she found her way to the coast** and befriended a group of Viking raiders (all alpha) and ruled the better part of Norway for the next sixty years (incidentally accumulating the single largest collection of fur blankets in greater Europe and single handedly sending the arctic fox to the brink of extinction)).

**thankfully avoiding alpha Anhora, which would have been quite disastrous for the unicorns which would no doubt have been slaughtered and reduced to lovely, white horse-hair blankets within a year

“That was a terrible day. Your father was a great friend. I had no part in his death.” Uther denied.

Gorlois had been a good father. There had been many fine blankets. Alas Morgana had been relatively inexperienced with arson at the time… (having set the entirety of the Northern Plains on fire at the tender age of 10, Morgana then directed her efforts to more calculated forms of anger management (that did not risk blankets… like poisons...)). The point was Gorlois wouldn’t have died (some claimed it was smoke inhalation, some claimed it was third degree burns, but Morgana knew Gorlois had died because Uther hadn’t sent any young eligible alphas with firefighting skills…

Morgana scowled again and walked away.

* * *

“…kiiiiing?” Asked Merlin, gnawing on a lamb shank.

Gaius scratched his head at the cryptic question before admitting defeat. “Sorry?” 

“…Uther? ...Good?” Merlin had started to doubt his own judgement recently. Sure, on one hand Uther was a horrible, balding old lech with homicidal tendencies… but on the other, he had started to associate Uther with food thanks to mostly being around him at evening meals with Arthur.

“Uther? A good king?” Gaius swallowed nervously. Uther had a habit of appearing exactly when that question was asked (usually followed shortly by a witch burning). Luckily he had a strategy prepared for this exact situation (aka: he lied). ”Yes. Yes, I do. In the light of recent events, you may find that hard to believe.”

Merlin gasped in disbelief.

“Merlin...It is not Uther's job to be liked. It is Uther's job to protect the kingdom. Most of his methods are right. Just… sometimes he may go a little too… far...” Then because Uther hadn’t yet leapt from behind a curtain he mumbled, “…like the whole executing innocent people thing…”

Merlin looked doubtful.

“Yes.” Gaius cleared his throat. “But despite Uther's failings, he has brought peace and prosperity to this kingdom.”

Merlin liked prosperity. He had discovered an appreciation for fine blankets and plentiful food and he simply could not go back to Ealdor (sorry Mum!). Still… a lot of children had died during the purge (apparently… he hadn’t seen it… and betas did tend to exaggerate… maybe it hadn’t been so bad after all?).

“It will end when Arthur is King.” Added Gaius “But Arthur's not ready yet. The responsibility would be too great. Brave though he may be in battle, he lacks experience, he lacks judgement.” Brave as Arthur was _in battle_ , he tended to overreact to lesser things. For example, Arthur had spent five minutes squealing when a spider had dropped on his shoulder during the council meeting yesterday (and then another fifteen when Merlin had plucked it off and eaten it… Gaius had had to sedate him in the end (Arthur, not Merlin – who had simply declared it crunchy and wandered off to investigate what bait was in Uther’s latest trap (spoiler: chicken!)). “Merlin… is there anything you want to tell me?”

Merlin startled. Gaius was one of those rare betas that could see Merlin all the time, even when he was invisible and doing totally innocent things. 

“I do trust you, Merlin.” Gaius added as Merlins eyes narrowed. “Whatever it is, I know you'll make the right decision.” Then Gaius went and started hiding all the poisonous things (a knee jerk response to Morgana’s eyes narrowing).

* * *

“Morgana!” Announced Uther stepping from behind the column he’d been hiding behind. Morgana stilled, but didn’t turn around. That would look too much like guilt. “I'm not disturbing you, I hope?”

Morgana grunted in reply.

“These are difficult times. They put a strain on us all.” Uther allowed. “I cannot tell you how much it pains me to be at odds with you.”

Morgana, remembering she was supposed to be killing Uther (or something like that anyway… something something Uther... ambush… ), simpered disarmingly (you had to be alpha for it to be convincing).

“I've been thinking about what you said. And, er, I realise I may have been insensitive. I should have foreseen the distress that your maid's loss would cause you, that it would stir old memories. I've opened an old wound. For that, I'm sorry.” Apologised Uther. An alpha-apology is much like a beta-apology, but with far less sincerity and zero eye-contact.

Morgana sidled up to Uther and latched onto his arm.

“I too wish to heal these wounds. Let us visit your father's grave together and put the past behind us.” Allowed Uther magnanimously. “Shall we leave tomorrow at first light?”

Morgana nodded enthusiastically.

* * *

Omegas had no use for dead alphas (with the exception of the odd few that thought their flayed skin might make an amusing suede throw, or those that engaged in opportunistic cannibalism (far more common in omegas than any other designation, possibly due to omegas misinterpreting common alpha sexual fantasies)), and rarely visited graves (other than to loot them), but this was clearly that opportunity to ambush Uther Tauren had been looking for, so she snuck out of her chambers later that night to meet him outside the palace walls.

“So, My Lady, what news?” Simpered Tauren, presenting her with the finest blanket one could obtain with magic gold in Camelot on short notice (which is to say, not that particularly fine - with two unbonded omega in residence there had not been a great deal of choice). Morgana tossed it aside with contempt.

“Morning. Hill.” Morgana informed him.

“Are you sure you're committed to this?” Tauren asked, still in denial that this sweet omega could betray her *cough*father*/cough* benefactor. Luckily as an alpha this was overpowered by the belief that all omegas were angels that existed purely for their own personal benefit.

Morgana, never one to turn down the opportunity to harm Uther glared balefully.

“Then the deed is as good as done!” Tauren declared lighting the candles and pulling out Morgana’s seat (he might be a criminal, but there were social norms to uphold).

Morgana banged her goblet on the table meaningfully as one of Tauren’s minions brought out the first course (she was hardly used to such poor service).

Meanwhile Merlin watched the exchange from Arthurs window with interest. Not too much interest of course, that would imply a level of jealousy, and that was impossible. He turned to Arthur who was trying to steal back his dinner and stabbed him with a fork. Arthur hardly ever took Merlin on secret candlelit picnics outside the palace walls after dark.

“Please… Merlin… I’m starving!” Begged Arthur. Merlin glared and banged his empty goblet on the table in imitation of Morgana (except with his foot - he needed both hands for eating after all)) and belched.

Arthur complied…. Merlin… so uninhibited… so dextrous… so… so sexy…

* * *

The following morning Gwen happened to chance upon Merlin hanging precariously out of one of Arthur’s windows. By ‘chanced upon’ we mean George had fetched her and begged her to speak with Merlin. It simply wasn’t safe... well… that and Merlin was naked again and gathering a sizable audience in the courtyard below.

“Merlin?” She asked.

Merlin acknowledged her with a nod,

“Is everything… okay?” Gwen glanced out the window at Uther and Morgana. “Morgana's been… amazing these last few days.” Amazing. Yes. Rather than sulking and lamenting being locked in a dungeon Morgana had rebounded and spent the previous evening in her normal semi-treasonous fashion (mostly this was cackling and burning effigies of Uther).

“…pigeon?” Merlin murmured sympathetically, attempting to change the topic.

“Yes… well.. it's better than sitting in an empty house, waiting for my father to walk through the door. The thing I find hardest to bear is that people will always think he was guilty because he tried to escape.”

“….innocent!” Declared Merlin (Merlin couldn’t help but feel responsible for Tom’s death, truth was that he had intended to break Tom out earlier that same evening – an attempt that had failed due to a ridiculously distracting cashmere throw placed on Uther’s lap (a deliberate attempt to coax a certain reluctant omega - needless to say the King had spent the rest of the evening in Gaius’s chambers with a bag of ice on his nethers, a great deal of regret and quite possibly one less testicle)).

“I think he tried to escape because he knew that whatever he said or did he'd be killed. Uther had already made up his mind. That's the kind of man he is.” Merlin nodded in agreement. He didn’t have to say anything else, because Gwen had seen the same look on his face the previous evening. “No Merlin! If Uther died I'd feel nothing. He means nothing to me.” Gwen admonished.

Merlin gave a fitful whine.

“No!” Gwen insisted. ”What would that solve? That would make me a murderer! That would make me as bad as him!”

Merlin sulked.

“No! Murder is bad Merlin! Very bad!” Gwen cast about for a broom unsuccessfully.

* * *

“Privacy!” Demanded Morgana when they arrived at Gorlois’s grave.

“Fine.” Uther huffed before turning to his guard. “Wait here. We're in no danger.”

“Sire.” Acknowledged the guard.

Meanwhile Merlin was running through the woods with the Sidhe staff (the one Sophia had ‘given’ him) with determination. This was harder than it sounded since there were quite a few delicious looking mushrooms out. Oooh… rabbits… that dead guard had looked quite meaty too.

“Ácwele!” Whispered Merlin, ‘sneaking up’ (alphas often humoured omegas in order to get their attention) behind the renegades and bashing in the skull of the first one. The second, being much taller required a few more blows to the midsection before he got the point and knelt down obediently to be concussed.

Merlin ran to the grave where Uther was pashing on the gravestone and explaining to Morgana how fantastic her ‘father’ was.

“When Gorlois died, I lost the truest friend I ever had. For he was as fearless in questioning my judgment as he was in defending my kingdom. That's the mark of a true friend. When he died, and I took you into my care, you fought me from the beginning. Your will is as strong as my own. You challenge me as a friend must. As your father did in his time.”

Morgana rolled her eyes. Where were those idiots?

Tauren was wondering the same thing, which is why he happened to turn around and spot Merlin sneaking up behind him.

Merlin blinked. He’d never actually made eye contact with someone he was stalking to kill before. It made it kinda awkward.

“Ácwele?” Suggested Merlin, swinging the staff at Tauren’s head.

Operating on adrenaline (he’d made eye contact with an omega *blush*) Tauren countered the blow with the Mage Stone. The resulting blast threw Merlin back, knocking him unconscious.

“Oh. Shit.” Muttered Tauren. His inner alpha was extremely confused. On one hand he’d hurt an omega, which was shameful. On another there was an omega right there… a defenceless, unbonded, unconscious omega *pant pant*…

Now normally Tauren wasn’t the kind to be picky, but the Lady Morgana had been terribly aloof at dinner last night… this new one at least didn’t look like the type to reject an earnest alphas blanket.

“I will strive to listen to you more and quarrel with you less. You've been a blessing to me, Morgana. You are the daughter I *cough* never */cough* had. Your counsel is invaluable, as is your friendship…” Uther continued to drone, unaware.

Morgana yawned and went to collect some rather toxic looking toadstools, which is exactly how she came upon Tauren removing Merlin’s tunic. Morgana couldn’t understand why… it was the same horrible old tunic Merlin always wore and hardly worth stealing…

“It’s not what it looks like my Lady!” Gasped Tauren. Because honestly there were a million explanations for why he would be stripping an unconscious omega in the woods.

Uther however clearly lacked imagination and lunged into action. He had been a fine alpha warrior in his youth, granted, emphasis on ‘had been’. Tauren soon had him pinned to the ground.

“Die, Uther Pendragon!” Tauren yelled, pulling out a dagger.

This was the exact moment that Morgana twigged to exactly what Tauren might have been about with Merlin – and it had nothing to do with Merlin potentially having a very small but soft blanket strapped to his chest. Morgana had never for a moment considered Tauren a potential mate (he was frankly quite disgusting) but that certainly didn’t mean it was okay for him to make advances on another omega!

“TRAITOR!” She screamed, plunging her own dagger into his back and killing him (it was a very fine dagger, according to Tom, the best he had ever forged).

Uther pushed the dead alpha off him and went to investigate Merlin who had regrettably regained consciousness and wandered off to pick wild berries.

* * *

“Ah, busy day?” Asked Gaius when Merlin staggered in covered in bramble scratches and soot a little after dusk.

Merlin glared.

“I hear that Tauren tried to assassinate Uther.” Gaius mentioned casually, “and that Morgana saved him. How many men were there? Three? Four?”

Merlin shrugged. He wasn’t a bloody accountant.

Merlin’s poor mood was a mixture of a post-concussion headache, a sugar high caused by consuming his own body weight in raspberries and inhaling too much smoke (Uther had followed through on his threat to set the thicket on fire if he didn’t come out before sunset).

“Morgana must have shown extraordinary courage to have defended a king against such odds. I suppose you had nothing to do with it?”

Merlin shrugged.

“No need to be so modest, Merlin.” Said Gaius holding out a ham sandwich.

Merlin considered. He’d been out for the majority of the events, but then he supposed it wasn’t totally impossible Tauren had tripped over his unconscious body after all… he nodded enthusiastically and took the sandwich eagerly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ,,,=^..^=,,,  
> [.comints?.]


End file.
